B’wood takes a shine to talented Bengali actors

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Time was when Bengali beauties like like Sharmila Tagore, Rakhee, Moushmi Chatterjee, reigned in Bollywood.

But attempts by the leading stars of the Bengali film industry (like Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Supriya) to make a mark in the Hindi filmdom ended in failure. But the winds of change have now opened a new chapter. Post the box-office success of Vidya Balan and Parambrata Chattopadhyay starrer Kahaani and Paoli Dam’s Hate Story, a new crop of bold and cerebral stars of Tollywood are being welcomed in Bollywood.
Paoli Dam, who created ripples with her bold avatar in Vivek Agnihotri directed Hate Story, is now being offered good roles in Bollywood. Paoli says, “After a successful career in Tollywood, Bollywood was always my next big dream. With new-age directors coming up with fresh scripts, ideas and different genres of films, actors from regional cinema are finding acceptance in Bollywood.”
Agrees Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee, who left the industry after the failure of Aandhiyaan and Meet Mere Man Ke, and is making a comeback after two decades with Dibakar Banerjee’s political thriller Shanghai. He says, “The language of cinema has changed today. I came back to the industry because I liked the director, script and my character in the film. Be it Tollywood or Bollywood, I want to associate myself with good cinema and reach out to a wider audience Movies like Vicky Donor, Kahaani or Hate Story are doing well and getting acceptance from the audience. Today, script is the main star of films. Besides Bengali actors, even Tamil and Telugu actors are in demand. It’s a change for the better.”
Director Vivek, who has worked with Tanushree Datta, Bipasha Basu and now Paoli Dam, feels that Bollywood on the whole is not changing for regional actors. “It’s only a few directors like Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap, who are well-travelled directors from cosmopolitan cities, who are taking cinema to different places. But Bollywood, even today, demands actresses with typical north-Indian look. So, actresses like Sridevi, Hema Malini were a hit for the same reason. There are only a few young directors who are exploring new faces and talents. I feel, actors from regional cinema are open to creative and challenging roles and so they are preferred. Paoli was a combination of both bold and A-grade actress that I wanted for my film. In Bollywood, mainstream stars are more concerned about their image than acting,” he adds.
Sharing a different point of view, Sujoy Ghosh, director of Kahaani, says, “I believe the script will always be the driving factor in casting. I’m not sure if the industry has ever been biased against any particular region. Whoever was willing to come and slog it out in Mumbai has been able to make a mark irrespective of origin. I think our industry will welcome anyone with talent who can contribute to cinema. It’s not easy to uproot oneself and make a base in Mumbai. So, when we get to see talent from outside Mumbai, it also excites us into casting them — whether it’s a Parambrata or a Paoli or a Prithviraaj,” he sums up.